Five Things That Never Not Happened to Joshua
by Fairady
Summary: Rule of Rose They all read to hear about the Princess. No one ever reads to hear about the Prince.


Disclaimer: I don't own or make money off of these twisted characters. 

Warnings: Spoilers, really massive spoilers for the games. Don not say that I did not warn you.

Notes: I need to get this game, just so I can stop ruthlessly spoiling myself. I went from being interested in the dynamics between Diana and Meg to the lovely twisted reality of Joshua. Which Joshua? All of them, of course.

Five Things That Never Not Happened to Joshua   
by fairady

-

_Alone, his breath gave out..._

-

The cough had gotten worse over the slow course of winter. Piles of blankets and bowls of warm soups weren't enough to stop it. The few physicians Gregory had been able to afford all had the same thing to say. He refused them all, sure there had to be _one_ man who could help his son.

Days of walking, hours of pleading. He sold every single item he owned, and borrowed as much as he could. Doctor after doctor saw the boy, but it did neither him nor Joshua any good. In the end it was just the two of them and the bitter knowledge that nothing could be done.

Gregory sat beside his sleeping son for the second day in a row. No doctor, priest, or neighbor had been able to move him from his post. His son needed him there, even if the boy never opened his eyes again to know he was there.

Asleep the boy was the spitting image of his mother. Gregory brushed back soft blond hair and recited stories that Joshua had always begged to hear to ease his slumber.

On the morning of the third day it took five grown men to hold Gregory down when they took Joshua away.

-

_Worthless, his breath was not enough..._

-

"You were a horrible Prince," The Princess of Rose said to the squirming bag. "You weren't supposed to leave me. Ever."

Stifled giggles filled the night's air as the Princess turned back to her Court. The Aristocrats curtsied respectfully before moving to do her bidding. The Duchess kicked the stained bag into the box, and the lid was hammered into place. The sound almost muffled the noises from inside.

The Princess smiled as dirt was slowly piled on top of the offering. "Next time," she promised, "I will find a real Prince."

-

_Loved, his breath was locked away..._

-

"It's alright now, Joshua," he murmured to calm his agitated son. "Papa will take care of everything."

His boy was scared, so terribly scared. Gregory smiled softly and began to recite one of Joshua's favorite stories. The one he'd made up about the prince rescuing the princess from a mad dog.

"Everything will be alright," Gregory murmured again, leaning down to place his head on the bed. He was so terribly tired, the sickness had forced him to stay beside his little Pea to care for him for too long. "I promise, I promise, I promise..."

Finally, Joshua was calming down. His father's presence and soothing words making him relax. Slowly, almost hessitantly, the boy was dropping off into sleep though he still made protesting noises.

"There now," Gregory sat back up and smiled down as his child. Sleeping like a little lamb. "Didn't papa say it would be alright?"

Tenderly, Gregory pulled the pillow off of Joshua's face and tucked it back under his head. He stood up and marveled for a moment about how the boy looked like an angel asleep like that.

-

_Uneeded, his breath was stolen..._

-

Gregory felt the world slide out from under him. The grisly scene before him made no sense to his reeling mind.

"Why are you screaming, papa?" the girl dropped the gun and finished pulling the bloody shirt on. "Don't you see? That was an imposter the imps put here, I'm the real Joshua."

The girl stood before him, smile brighter than the sun and as mischievous as the devil's.

"Papa, aren't you listening to me?" the child sat in his lap and wrapped small arms around his neck. "Don't believe their lies. I love you papa."

He reached up to push the child away, but his arms moved as if in a dream. One hand landed on a head of hair that was short and familiar.

"You love me too don't you?" Joshua looked up at him, face as earnest as it ever was. "Do you love me, papa? Say it, please?"

"Of course I love you, Joshua," Gregory scolded himself for his hesitance. What sort of father doubted his own son?

-

_Unrecognized, his breath was given to another..._

-

Gregory had worked his fingers to the bone for months on end to buy one ticket for the aircraft. It had been utterly exhausting and near impossible, but it was worth every bit of trouble to see his son light up like that. Joshua had been so excited that day, he'd made the room glow with his happiness. It was something that Gregory knew he would never forget.

The ticket was not for the high class seats, not even a year's work could afford that, but Gregory knew a woman who worked on the aircraft. Looking smart in her uniform, a distant cousin who promised to watch the boy and sneak him up to the front. Allow him to see the world from the skies he so adored.

Joshua hardly slept the night before. Tracing the route of the aircraft along an old and beaten map. Excitedly telling Gregory all about what he would see in the air. The boy was nothing short of ecstatic the day he bordered the aircraft, but, sweet thing that he was, he had the thought to reassure his worried father. Solemnly giving him the map he'd been so enamored of the night before, sure that Gregory could meet him if the aircraft drifted.

"Joshua!"

The wreckage lay just where he knew it would be. His boy, his smart child, had circled the spot on the map. Gregory's long legs ate up the distance as he left the country road. The land was scorched and littered with unrecognizable bodies. The thick terror that had hovered over him since the news of the craft's disappearance threatened to overtake him.

All he could think of was his boy. His poor, poor boy, "Joshua!"

Gregory stumbled to a stop near a corpse that wasn't nearly so unrecognizable. Her uniform wasn't so smart charred and bloodied. The corpse was curled on it's side, futilely trying to protect the smaller form grasped tightly in it's arms.

"Dear Lord, no..." Gregory felt the earth and ashes under his hands, clenching furrows into it as he stared, transfixed by the bodies a few feet away. God, Dear Lord above. He'd do anything, absolutely anything to have his little boy back. Anything at all.

The faint sounds of yipping came from the wreckage, slowly Gregory rose to his feet and walked towards the sound.

The side of the airship was split open. Crates and bodies thrown everywhere, but the yipping echoed and faintly he could hear a child's voice. Hope stirred wildly and Gregory scrambled up to the opening peering down into the dark hold of the airship. A blonde child tightly held a squirming puppy, face buried in it's fur. He hadn't realized he'd been weeping until the tears cleared at the sight of Joshua, whole and alive.

"Thank you, Lord," Gregory breathed as he eased down towards the child. "Oh thank you! Joshua!"

His little boy looked up, pale face smeared with blood, and eyes brimming with tears. He wore a girl's dress, smart of his cousin, to dress him like that in order to sneak him to the front.

Gregory fell down next to the child and gathered him close in a desperate hug, "Shh, now, little Pea. Everything's alright now."

Joshua sobbed into his chest, clinging with all his strength. Gregory rocked his boy and murmured soothing words. "Let's go home, Joshua."

-

_...and poor little Joshua never breathed again._

_-_


End file.
